


your lips taste like poetry and alcohol

by xasertoloet



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Crushes, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28248312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xasertoloet/pseuds/xasertoloet
Summary: Neil Perry is the straight A student at Welton High School. Todd Anderson is the new, shy student that just moved schools.
Relationships: Chris Noel/Knox Overstreet, Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	your lips taste like poetry and alcohol

07:34 am

She’s pretty. 

She really is. She just doesn’t make me feel something.

It’s like this every time. 

They all tell me I should go out. Meet some people. Finally accept to go on one of the dates I’m always asked to go onto. But every time I actually do, it’s like this. We went on one date and she suggested to pick me up this morning, so we could “meet up before school” and “make out a bit”. I agreed because, well, who wouldn’t take the offer to get driven to school on the first day? At least I didn’t have to take the bus. 

So now I’m in this position, where she’s sticking her tongue down my throat, almost choking me with both her actions and the energy around her. Because it feels so wrong, and I don’t know if she feels it too because her arms are slung around me and her eyes are closed and her tongue is in my mouth and of course I kiss back, because I feel weird not doing it.

But maybe this is just what a relationship is supposed to feel like. Maybe this is exactly what all the fuzz is about. Maybe I’m just the reason that this feeling is around. Maybe I am the problem. 

She smells good. Better than some other girls I’ve dated. She smells like lavender and a fresh morning breeze. Her hair is in a bun, It’s still a bit frizzy, she probably showered this morning. 

Finally, I think, as she releases me from her grip and smiles at me. I can see her expression drop as I smile back, with a weak smile, because I don’t have the energy for all of this right now. 

“Did I do something wrong? Oh no, I’m so sorry, Are we- Am I moving to fast?” She asks. She looks concerned now, she does actually really care about me, I guess. We could be pretty great friends, I think, but now it’s probably too late. I look down to my feet, then up at her again.

I clear my throat and look past her, avoiding her glance at all cost. “No, no- It’s alright, I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, had to memorize my lines for our premiere. I just can’t get it into my head” I focus on her now, feeling satisfied with the answer I gave. 

“If you have problems learning the lines, I can help you master them. We can’t have our lead fucking up our amazing performance!” She said, letting out a little giggle at the end. 

Yeah, the play’s a very important thing to me, I gave up my summer break to work on it with the theater group. Emily’s in the group too. She asked me out a week ago, but I noticed her crush on me way before that, she wasn’t really being that secret about it. She would constantly whisper with her friends when I was around, and she would be overly nice to me. I like hanging out with her, because seeing that we play the two main characters of the play, we got to spend a lot of time together. She’s nice, she really is, so I agreed to go on a date with her. Maybe something would come out of it. And maybe it still will, it was only about a week ago that we went on that date. 

“Yeah, we should probably do that sometime. I’m really scared for the play, y’know? I know we still have a few months til the premiere but it’s the first time I’m acting in front of that big of a crowd.” I sighed. People started arriving at school. Not long until my friends would be here. Before letting her speak, I added “Is it okay if we don’t tell anyone about us yet? I’m really not in the mood for my friends teasing today..”

Her smile dropped a little. She now had a rather disappointed look on her face, but at least she didn’t get mad.

“Okay then, mystery boy, I’m going to leave now before the girls arrive, have fun at school” She giggled

“Won’t have fun, but thank you still, m’lady” This time, I leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed back immediately before parting our lips and turning around to walk away.

I watched her walk away until she turned around a corner to enter the building. I took my phone out of my jacket’s pocket. I checked my socials and went through some of my messages, one of them being a “Have fun at school, sweetie!” message from my mother and some texts from the boys’ groupchat. Apparently Charlie overslept, which was very on brand for him while Knox just insisted that he was going to finally ask out and win over his crush, which he has had for the past 2 years, Chris Noel, a senior girl, one class above us that has been going out with Chet Danburry, the star Football player for a year now. Knox didn’t stand any chance at all.

I heard footsteps approaching, looked up from my phone and when I realized that Mr Nolan was making his way over to me, I began fidgeting with my phone in an attempt to quickly put it away, I couldn’t afford to get detention on the first day of school. 

“Good Morning, Mr Perry, need I remind you of our ‘no phones on school grounds’ policy?” he declared, focusing on me, obviously demanding an answer from me.  
I looked past him, avoiding his stare while I cleared my voice and thought of something to say.

“I’m sorry sir, I wasn’t aware that the policies also count for the time before school. I will try to follow the rules from now on.” 

I was ready to get going and escape this very awkward conversation when Mr. Nolan answered “I’ll let that slide for once and not give you detention” I let out a relieved sigh. “But I do have a task for you young man. We have a new student in your grade, he just moved schools and I still need someone to show him around. Could you do that or do you want to get detention on your first day back in school instead?” He added while looking at me expectantly. 

I would avoid getting detention and any cost, so I ran my hand through my hair and answered “Yeah, of course I can. What’s his name?”

Mr Nolan started walking and made a hand movement to signalize me to follow him while he replied “Todd Anderson. But you can ask him the questions yourself, he’s probably waiting already.”

I followed him into the school building along the hallway that leads to the school office. I saw a figure leaning on a wall. He looked a little lost, fidgeting with his hands and when he saw the two of us walking towards him he looked down to avoid eye contact. As we got closer I could see him more clearly. He had dark blonde hair parted in the middle. He was wearing a white shirt and some loose fitting trousers along with a light jacket and some sneakers. All the girls would probably start falling in love with him soon. He was very handsome, so I wouldn’t blame them. 

“Good morning Mr Anderson, how are you today” Mr Nolan greeted the boy with a handshake and before the boy could answer, he added “This is one of our top students of your grade, Neil Perry, he has the honor to show you around our school today. I will leave you two alone, use the time before school and be at class in time!” He walked off, and I was left alone with Todd. Anderson. Wait-

I cleared my throat and asked him “Isn’t Jeffrey Anderson your brother?” Now I knew who he reminded me of. Everyone knew Jeffrey. Everyone loved Jeffrey. And they looked a lot alike. 

Todd huffed and answered “Yeah, yeah he is.” He was a quiet talker, he seemed very shy. Nothing like his brother. 

He didn’t seem interested in keeping the conversation alive, but I wanted to know more about him, he’d probably open up, I just had to give him some time. 

“Why’d you move schools? And why didn’t you go to Welton in the first place if your brother was here?”

“Didn’t like Balincrest, and didn’t want to go to Welton”

“Wow, you’re picky” I commented. He let out a small laugh “What do you have first period?” I added while smiling. Didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

“I have math now, what about you?” He kept looking away and glancing at me again, it was pretty cute. I focused on his eyes. I couldn’t make out what his eye colour was because of the dimmed school hallway lighting, but his eyes with the long eyelashes shaping his eyes and no sign of eye bags, were pretty enough. The golden strands of his hair fell into his face and he was once again fidgeting with his fingers nervously.

Lost in my thoughts, I almost forgot to answer him. 

“Uhm.. I have- Wait, I have math now too. What a great subject to start the first day with, am I right?” I made sure to sound as sarcastic as I could. “Let’s head in there, I’ll show you around later” 

We started walking walking along the hallways as he mumbled “Would’ve thought you were a nerd” 

“What the hell?! I am the opposite of a nerd, math is my worst subject” I was a bit offended, but maybe he was right. Well, actually, maybe I was a bit of a nerd. I could barely ever spend time with my friends because I was always studying. But not because I wanted to. “Why would you even think that?” I added

“Well, Principal Nolan said you were one of the top students and you volunteered to show me around school, so I kind of assumed you were..” 

“I didn’t even volunteer for this, Mr Nolan caught me on my phone and forced me to.” That probably sounded a bit harsh. It’s not like I didn’t want to show him around, but I just didn’t intentionally signed up for it. 

He stayed quiet. I gazed at him while we were walking, he just looked down and sometimes lifted his head up to look around the hallway. His eyes met mine and I could finally see the colour of them. They were light blue, like a warm summer morning sky when you wake up way to early because the sun is shining through your window. When you go outside at 6 am to try and avoid everything and listen to music through your headphones at max volume and you don’t feel like you have to do anything for anyone, you don’t have to respond to the messages you got overnight while you were already sleeping because you passed out while writing that essay in English and then later when you woke up you crawled into your bed and finally got the sleep you wanted. But not for long, because the sun wakes you up an hour later. But it all feels okay when you go outside and see that light blue morning sky because you feel free and it’s like time stays still for that moment. 

That’s what looking in his eyes felt like. 

I realized that I was probably looking at him for an uncomfortable amount of time and quickly focused on something else. I need to stop getting lost in my thoughts.  
I cleared my throat. “So do you know anyone at Welton or do you want me to introduce you to some friends of mine?” I felt like he could be a great addition to the friend group. But I also thought he’d be a bit lost. “They’re a bit much at first, but I think you’d fit in pretty good” 

Just as he wanted to respond, the bell interrupted him. We rushed to class. I was pretty glad that I didn’t have math class with any of the boys, so I could sit next to Todd. I mean- I just sat next to him to be nice. So that he wouldn’t be all alone. 

-

10:03 am

First period was pretty chill. Except for when Todd had to tell the class about himself. I noticed how uncomfortable he was when Mrs. Campbell asked him to. So I suggested that we should all tell something about ourselves so it wouldn’t be so awkward for him. Everyone else groaned but the teacher thought it was a good idea. Todd gave me a genuine smile after that. A small one, but a genuine one. He was still struggling a bit when he had to tell something about himself. Especially because he was still the first one to. The surname ‘Anderson’ isn’t really practical if you hate public speaking. He said he liked reading and soccer. The reading bit wasn’t much of a surprise, I could totally imagine him cuddling up with a book in the evening instead of being on his phone doing nothing at all. 

Second period was history. I actually really liked history, but when Charlie talks about all the hot girls’ ‘summer glow ups’ and Knox is complaining about the fact that he doesn’t share any classes with Chris, which wouldn’t even make sense if she did because she’s a senior and we’re juniors, you really don’t get to pay attention to class. Also, no Todd, he had French. 

Who chooses French as a class?

After class, I rushed away from the group without any explanation to catch Todd and walk him to his next class. He stood at the wall, struggling to get his planner out of his backpack. He looked aimlessly around struggling to figure out which way he had to go. He probably thought I already abandoned him. His eyes met mine as I walked towards him. His face lit up a bit, the corners of his mouth moved up, but not in a smug way, he seemed genuinely happy. Probably just because he wouldn’t be as lost with me to show him around.

I let out an out of breath “hi” and added “What’s your next class? I’ll walk you there”  
Todd opened his planner and when he was about to speak, he noticed something and looked over my shoulder while he nodded in the direction “I think they’re here for you”  
I froze and slowly turned around to see a confused looking Charlie, Knox, Pitts and Meeks (Cameron hurrying after them) standing in front of me. “Are you avoiding us?” Knox asked  
Well, partly yes, because they would 100 percent ask about the date I had with Emily, and I did not feel like talking about it at all, and no, because I was just showing Todd around school, so I didn’t really have time for that.

So I just answered with a simple “no”. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with them at the moment.

“Then why the fuck are you so weird today? And who even is that?” Charlie spoke up. He looked really annoyed. 

“This is Todd Anderson, he’s new at school. Nolan asked me to show him around.”

Charlie rolled his eyes. “And you accepted because you want the extra credit that desperately?”

“Come on, Neil was just being nice. I’d probably accept too if Nolan asked me something” Richard exclaimed from the back of the group.

“Yeah, of course you would because you’re a fucking bootlicker”

“Nolan caught me on my phone and of course I didn’t wanna get detention, you guys know how shit my dad can be.” I looked down at my shoes now, feeling a bit embarrassed to say that in front of Todd. I just met him and he knew too much about me already.

“Makes no fucking sense” God. Charlie was just so stubborn.

“I didn’t wanna be a shitty person and leave him wandering around school aimlessly and at least help him out on the first day.”

Knox nodded and stepped forward “Hey man, it’s just.. We haven’t seen you all summer break, you didn’t even tell us you were going to summer school at first and these last 2 weeks you weren’t even really responding to our messages. We’ve missed you man.” He looked back at the boys, then turned aroun8d and added “Even Charlie did, he just won’t admit it.”  
Charlie, standing behind the taller man, shook his head as he exclaimed “not true.” Knox hit him lightly with his elbow. “We all-” Knox pointed at the whole group, including Charlie “-missed you and we kind of got off on the wrong foot with Todd too” He cleared his throat and pulled his hands out of his jackets’ pockets to shake hands with Todd. “Knox Overstreet. The only reasonable one of the group.” 

Both Pitts and Cameron came forward to politely introduce themselves to Todd. He seemed kind of uncomfortable in the situation, he didn’t really keep eye contact, looked around shyly and kept looking at me like he needed reassurance.

Meeks stepped forward and now stood next to Knox, their height difference now being more visible than ever, and also shook hands with Todd “Steven Meeks, nice to meet you Todd. Aren’t you-”

Charlie now interrupted the two of them, “Charlie Dalton” he announced, leaving a confused look on Todd’s face. 

I moved closer to Todd, now standing next to him across from the boys. Under my breath, I muttered as I leaned in a bit closer so Todd could hear it “Yes, he’s always like this. Yes, it’s unbearable” That earned a small giggle from Todd, which he quickly stopped.  
“It’s not even been a whole day and Neil’s already flirting with random people.” I choked on my spit. What the hell was Charlie talking about? “Where’s the new persona from? Lost your v-card at summer school?”

“Shut up, Charlie, don’t you have some girls to scare away with your presence instead?” I answered defensively 

Todd was fidgeting with his hands again, this time faster than before. If he wasn’t uncomfortable before, he definitely was now. 

“Let’s meet at lunch so you guys can stop crying about the fact that I have other friends, duty calls!” Without waiting for their responses, I grabbed Todd’s arm and hurried away with him. 

“Sorry about them. They’re really chill normally.” They really were rather rude today. I was still a bit embarrassed about the whole situation. “You didn’t get to answer my question, what’s your next class?”

“English”

A smile grew on my face. “Nice, another class we have together” He turned his gaze towards me and smiled back “You don’t really talk much, do you?” I added. 

“You talk enough for the both of us” he mumbled

I grinned at him and rolled my eyes. I chose to not answer, two can play this game. 

I looked forward and led him to the classroom. When we walked in, I looked around the room to look for a place for the both of us to sit. At a desk in the back of the class, my eyes met Emily’s. She smiled at me and bit her lip, then went back to chatting with her friends. I saw two seats at the other side of the room, and suggested Todd that we should sit there. I didn’t know why, but I just didn’t want to sit near her. Right as we sat down, Knox, Charlie, Pitts, Meeks and Cameron entered the classroom. I guess leaving them standing there wasn’t necessary. 

-

10:58 am

“Man, I missed Keating, I’m so glad we’ve got him as our teacher this year too.” Richard spoke as we exited the class.

“Only time I’ll agree with you” Charlie responded. 

The group continued chatting as I slowed my walking speed down, to let them go ahead, Todd and me strolling behind. “So, how’d you like the Captain’s lesson? He’s a genius, isn’t he?” 

Todd looked like he was still in thought. He just stared at the floor as we kept walking through the hallways on our way to the cafeteria. I elbowed him and his stare shot up at me.  
“Oh- S- Sorry, did you say something?”

I rolled my eyes. “I asked you what you thought about Keating’s class?”

“He’s pretty cool. I mean,” He rubbed his arm, and- Was he- He was blushing. “I always liked poetry, so a teacher finally talking about it that passionately was pretty nice.”

“Yeah, right? I mean, I’m more of the theater guy but it’s similar, I guess?” He let out a muffled laugh. I smiled back at him. 

“Neil!” a voice behind us let out. I froze and slowly turned around to see Emily rushing towards me. “Hey, I didn’t catch you after class, you were gone so fast. Can we talk? Alone? It’s about the play..” She bit her lip and grinned. Oh, it definitely wasn’t about the play.  
“I’m kinda occupied right now, is it that important?” I lied. Well, technically it wasn’t, I was kinda busy showing Todd around. 

“Can’t he just follow the boys? I won’t hold you off for long, I swear.” She had that look in her eye. She definitely would hold me off for long. 

“Okay, sure” I gave in. I turned to Todd “Can you wait here a second or follow the others?”  
“Yeah, sure” he mumbled and stared at his feet. The whole situation was painfully uncomfortable.

So I left Todd standing there in the middle of the hallway while she dragged me into one of the empty classrooms. As soon as I turned around after closing the door behind me, her lips attacked mine. It wasn’t in any way a gentle kiss, but it wasn’t a particularly hard kiss either. It was hungry and hot. But I still let her. I let her tongue in my mouth and her hands cup my face. I kissed back now, aggressively enough to match her actions and felt her grin on my lips. She separated our lips, but stayed close to my face as she whispered “Want me to blow you?”.

My face grew hot and my eyes widened. I just stared at her in disbelief, I couldn’t quite process what she just said. “Uh- I- I mean..” I wasn’t even hard, why’d she ask that? “Not right now, I- Later, okay?” I answered, gave her a deep kiss to silence her and before she could answer I rushed out of the room.

Todd was still standing in the hallway, now leaned up against the wall. I ruffled my hair and walked towards him, trying to look as normal as possible. We started walking, quietly, but he kept looking at me as if he was checking to see something. When I looked over to him, he looked especially confused before he looked away when my eyes met his. He didn’t ask anything, but I could feel the unspoken words. 

We made our way to the cafeteria, where I saw the rest of the boys sitting at our signature table and sat down. 

The boys were already engaged in a loud conversation and even when I tried to listen, I couldn’t comprehend a thing they were saying, but it seemed like Charlie and Cameron were arguing about something and the other guys were also just listening. Except for Knox, who was in his own little world as he gazed over to the table at the very back of the cafeteria where most of the Seniors would always sit and I quickly realized who he was staring at.  
Chris Noel. She was pretty, I couldn’t deny that but I really didn’t get why he’s been head over heals for this girl for such a long time now. They never even really talked before.  
Todd followed mine and Knox’s stare, his face now developing a confused look as he looked over to me. 

I moved closer to him and whispered not so quietly “Chris Noel. Knox has the biggest crush on her.” I let out a small laugh.

“I totally do not!” Knox announced while he looked very offended over to the two of us. The look of his face changed slowly. It’s like something clicked in his brain. “Aren’t you Jeffrey Anderson’s brother?” at that, both Meeks and Pitts shifted their attention towards the newly found conversation between Todd and Knox.

“Yeah, I am, why?” Todd muttered. He clearly didn’t like all the attention on him.

“Chris and Jeffrey used to date, didn’t they?” 

“You’re a fucking stalker, Knox” Pitts exclaimed

-

01:02 pm 

The bell finally saved me from my Latin Class. I rushed out of the classroom. Normally I would hurry to the school buses but Emily agreed to drive me home, so I wasn’t actually in a hurry. There was one thing I needed to do, though. 

I caught Todd right as he was leaving the school building. “Todd!” he turned around to face me and the corners of his mouth moved up a little. “I didn’t really give you a good tour around school today, I’m sorry. Wait- Let me get your number” I fumbled with my backpack, struggling to get my phone out. 

While he was typing his number into my phone, I was gazing around, waving at people I recognized in the crowd of loud students that just wanted to get home after their school day. He handed me my phone back and waited for me to say something. Weirdly, I did feel like saying something, but I didn’t know what to.

“See you tomorrow, I guess?” I offered

He forced a small smile, stood there awkwardly for he few seconds but then turned around and began walking towards the school busses.

I was left standing awkwardly between everyone, looking after Todd as he walked away. 

I flinched when I felt a hand touch my shoulder and turned around to face Emily, who was, of course, smiling brightly at me. 

“You ready?” She asked, wiggling her car keys around 

-

07:27 pm

Dinner was as normal as always. My mother asked about my day at school and about some of my friends while my dad sat at the table, silently eating his meal. He hasn’t spoken a lot to me since I joined the theatre group, he doesn’t like me ‘wasting my time on something so unessessary’. My dad wanted me to fully focus on school without any distraction so I could become a doctor one day (a proffession I would never, ever choose), so I was never allowed to do acting. 

So since I’ve joined the group without his permission and he found out, he was too stubborn so he’s been ignoring me ever since.

“How are your friends, honey?” my mother asked in an attempt to make the whole situation less awkward and losen up the mood a little bit.

“They’re good, i guess. I didn’t get to spend much time with them today.”

“How come?” she remarked, a puzzled look on her face while she took a sip of her drink.  
“I volunteered to show a new student around school today” I answered. I wasn’t really in the mood to hold a conversation right now and I think she got the message when she just gave an understanding nod and gave the food on her plate her full attention again.

I waited for her to finish her portion, stood up and put our plates in the dishwasher. 

I ran upstairs. My dad’s silent presence was suffocating. I could hear his unspoken word and I could feel his stare on me whenever he thought I wasn’t looking.

In my room, I jumped onto my bed and grabbed my phone and my headphones, opened spotify and pressed play. This was like a nightly routine. The only escape I had from everyone and everything. 

And normally, it would be. Normally, I’d forget everyone and everything for a few minutes and not think about anything. But this time, it wasn’t like that. My head was full of thoughts, I couldn’t stop thinking. Thinking about her. About Emily. But whenever I saw her face in my mind, it wasn’t a feeling of warmth, of longing, of love but rather a feeling of regret, of shame, of guilt. 

I forced myself to think of something, anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave feedback or advice in the comments, I'm not a native English speaker so please correct me on stuff I got wrong. I don't know where I'm going with this yet, I hope you stay with me along the way :)


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